*Two* choking fits in as many days!  And then she'd swallowed some of
that bitter ale.....what was that old saying? "Hair of the werewolf <g>
that bit you..."  Well despite Elfiran's assurances to the opposite all
it did was churn J'layah's already volatile stomach to boiling point. 
Fortunately almost everybody's attention was riveted on the redguard and
that cranky old coot he'd dragged out of bed, so they didn't notice her
retching into an empty tankard.  Good!  One less humiliating experience.
At least her stomach felt somewhat better afterwards.

Wiping her mouth she gingerly placed the almost-full tankard with its
steaming contents back on the table, catching the tail end of a heated
conversation:

"My companions, S'talin and Shomshar, have fled. Not long after dawn,
I was awakened by their leaving. The left out the back and I followed
them for I knew something was strange in this. I followed them for some
distance and spied them meeting with a Dark Brother. I confronted them.
The
Brother fled into the woods while S'talin and the breton stayed me. I
could not
kill them before Shomshar teleported them both to safety. They are spies
of
the Brotherhood. My trust in them was misplaced. For that, they will
die."
     K'tarin's face was impassive again, but his eyes were unchanged.
They blazed with fury. Without further comment, he turned back up the
stairs
to gather his things.

"Does this mean we should divide out forces?" She wondered aloud, "we
can hardly allow such a frail old man to travel into death's maw, armed
only with his books and a berserker redguard!"  She looked to her
companions for their counsel.